Resolutions

I woke to the same wet weather this morning as yesterday, but after a New Years day on the couch and a reluctant stumping from a ski yesterday, not skiing today was not an option.

It was my plan to be on the snow early while the trails were still set-up because I expected another warming trend today, but when I hit the Chiwawa Sno-park at 11am I was stoked to find the tracks completely untouched -- I didn't expect this weather to keep the snowmobiles away! And I didn't expect there to be fresh groomers since the schedule calls for Wednesdays off and the warm weather is an excuse to give the "cat" a day off but for whatever reason I have been rewarded with perfect groomers!

Okay, it wasn't perfect. The warm and rain made the snow underneath the corduroy pretty lumpy and because you have to be on your game to ski with good technique, after a couple hours it wears on you: oh, the ankles.

I followed the groomer tracks past the junction to "Meadow" and "Pole" and continued over the Chiwawa River to where the groomer turned back into the hills: Trinity wasn't groomed. Faultline! For an hour I climbed but my technique was for shit. I hadn't warmed up, hadn't skied in days, and the soft snow all conspired, but with the elevation the snow just kept getting better and better and I finally dialed in the issues with my technique.

I stopped at every overlook! The clouds lifted the views into the mountains and out over the lakes was a treat. There were no snowmobiles out today and so even listening down into the valleys it was silence except for the snow sloughing off the trees and the pounding of my own heart.

The tally for today was 2:55-hours covering something over 20-miles and probably 2-3,000' of elevation gain -- I need to research this route: Snopark--Faultline--Beaver Creek--Deep Creek Campground--Snopark.